The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Clethra plant, botanically known as Clethra alnifolia and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Caleb’.
The new Clethra plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Grand Haven, Mich. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Clethra cultivars with large inflorescences flowers.
The new Clethra plant originated from an open-pollination in August, 2003 of Clethra alnifolia ‘Ruby Spice’, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Clethra alnifolia, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Clethra plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor in August, 2005 as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Grand Haven, Mich.
Asexual reproduction of the new Clethra plant by softwood cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Grand Haven, Mich. since the spring of 2006 has shown that the unique features of this new Clethra plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.